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Tag: birth control

Birth Control as Health Care: The Legacy of the International Workers Order #SouthOfUnionSquare

Though forms of birth control existed long before the introduction of “the pill” in 1960, most women often did not have easy access to it. In the early 20th century, public views of birth control were often negative, discussion of it was usually stifled, and in general women did not have a great deal of […]

Emma Goldman, Birth Control Crusader, Arrested

Emma Goldman, anarchist and feminist, advocate of free speech, free love, birth control, and the eight-hour workday, was arrested in New York City on February 11, 1916. Charged with violating the Comstock Act, an 1873 law banning the transportation of “obscene” matter, the courts interpreted distribution as transportation. Goldman later spent time in jail for […]

Margaret Sanger’s 1916 Clinic

It was on October 16th, 1916 that Margaret Sanger opened her first family planning and birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Although Sanger’s groundbreaking clinic wasn’t in Greenwich Village, its politics were very much of the neighborhood, and in fact were fostered by Sanger’s deep involvement with many radical and progressive movements centered in Greenwich Village at […]